City agrees banishment too severe

WADSWORTH, Ohio, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- An Ohio town has admitted a municipal judge went too far when he barred a former resident from entry.

Page Schrock III, the law director for Wadsworth, said officials did not intend to banish Jeffrey Aberegg from the town, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

"The intent was that he not be in City Hall, the court or our offices," Schrock said. "But since the city owns the streets and sidewalks as well, he could not use them either."

Aberegg, who lived in Wadsworth for 25 years and now lives in nearby Barberton, admits he became a nuisance, the newspaper said. He went through a difficult time that included divorce and people stealing from his business.

He felt police and local officials were not taking his complaints seriously and let them know it.

Two years ago, a judge spared him a jail term for harassment as long as he stayed out of Wadsworth for five years.

The Public Defender's Office has appealed the ban and now the city agrees it needs to be rethought.

"I have not been able to go to the parade in Wadsworth for years. I miss that," Aberegg said. "I'm a handyman and I get calls from people in Wadsworth to do work, but I have to turn them down."